by Steve Laug

This particular Claude Romain pipe was purchased on 01/20/2026 from a Facebook seller in Quaker Town, Pennsylvania, USA. It really is a beautiful long shank apple with flair of white and black slashed around the shank as can be seen in the photos below. The bowl is smooth and stained with a contrast of browns. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Claude Romain [over] Flair. On the right side of the shank it is stamped St. Claude [arched over] France [over] the shape number 2813. The bowl had a light cake on a recently cleaned bowl. It was not heavily smoked. There were some spots of lava overflow in the rim top – heavier toward the back of the bowl. There was grime ground into the finish which left the look quite dull. The short vulcanite saddle stem has the White CR cursive logo stamped on the left side of the saddle. It was lightly oxidized and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. He took photos of the rim top to show the condition of the top and edges of the bowl. It is dull and has the lava spots on the surface of the rim. It is uniquely a beautiful pipe. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the finish and the grain around the bowl and the condition of the pipe. You can see the grime ground into the surface of the briar. The black and white slash on the shank is a great highlight in the briar of the long shank. He took photos of the stamping on the underside and the right side of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. He also took photos of the CR stamp on the left side of the saddle stem.Before I started working on the pipe, I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could learn anything about the Claude Romain Company and the Flair (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c5.html). There was no listing for the Flair but there was some helpful information. I did a screen capture of the pertinent section and have included the side bar information below the photo.Berrod-Regad group. Essentially produced for the German market

It appears that the pipe was made by the Berrod-Regad group in St. Claude, France to be sold in the German market.

I looked up the Claude Romain brand on Pipedia to see if I could gather further information on the company (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Romain). It confirms the connection to the Berrod-Regad Group and the focus of the German Market. I quote the brief article in full below.   

Claude Romain is a second brand from Butz-Choquin. To elaborate…

(From Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks, by Jose Manuel Lopés’) Claude Romain is a French brand created in 1979 by the Berrod-Regad group for the German market. The name was from Romain (founder of the Condat region in the 5th century, which corresponds to Saint-Claude today) and Claude (a 7th century bishop who gave his name to the town Jura). Stamp Claude Romain, and Made in France. Symbol: CR

The additional information I gained was where the name came from and the connection to Butz-Choquin. I had no idea this was a Butz-Choquin second.

It was time to work on the pipe. As usual Jeff had done a thorough cleanup on the pipe. He cleaned up the reaming of the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. One of the benefits of this scrub is that it also tends to lift some of the scratches and nicks in the surface of the briar. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. The pipe looked good. I took a photo of the rim top and stem to show the condition. The finish on the rim top looked spotty. The vulcanite saddle stem had light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button and on the button edges. The stamping on the underside and left side of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. There was a stamp on the left side of the saddle was readable but the white in the stamp was gone. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. It is a nice-looking long shank apple and should clean up very well. I began my work on the pipe by addressing a shrunken fill on the backside of the bowl. I filled it in with clear superglue. Once it cured I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I touch up the stain on the bowl with a Cherry stain pen and it blended into the surface of the bowl well.I blended the repair into the surrounding briar and polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – I dry sanded the briar with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the debris. It really took on a rich shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips to get into the wood. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the CR stamp on the left side of the saddle stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. Once it dried I removed the excess with a 1000 grit sanding pad. It looked good – a little faint at the top of the stamp but still very clean and readable.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. This nicely grained Claude Romain Flair 2813 Long Shank Apple with a flash of black and white acrylic mid shank is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The polished vulcanite saddle stem is in great condition. The briar is clean and really came alive. The rich brown with a black under stain gave the grain a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. The grain really popped. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Claude Romain Flair 2813 Apple is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the French Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for following the blog on this restoration.